Wire cutting and bending press



Oct. 12,. 1948. J. A. SHAND WIRE CUTTING AND BENDING PRESS Filed May 30, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l m 26. W////%///W J51? W 7 i 7 1948- J. A. SHAND I [2,450,920

WIRE CUTTING AND BENDING PRESS Filed May 30, 1945 .2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. C/JiyAZayqi,

WIRE oor'rme AND nENnmGrnEss John Shand, West Orange, N. 1.. usignor to Western Electric Company; Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York 1 Application May 30,1945, Serial No. 596,830

Claims. (Gino-11) I This invention relates, generally, to improve-' ments in cutting and bending presses adapted to shape wire for various uses, and, more particularly, for shaping wire leads of electrical resistances. or wire supports and leads of various other types of electrical devices, and the like.

' The invention has for an object to provide a simple and easily actuated wire cutting and bending press, whereby wire formations may be accurately, quickly and easily produced, and whereby necessity for costly and laborious hand cutting and bending operations may be avoided.

The invention has for another object to provide a novel wire cutting and bending press wherein the cutting means and the means for producing bends may be relatively adjusted in a simple and expeditious manner to produce wire formations 01' various required dimensions and bend locations.

The invention has for a further object to provide a novel wire cutting and bending press wherein the bending devices comprise stationary anvil members and cooperative oscillatable wire carriers, the latter being controlled by means of a single manipulatable rock-shaft.

Other objects of this invention, not at this time more particularly enumerated, will be understood from the following detailed description of the same- An illustrative embodiment of this invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig.1 is an elevational view in plan of the novel wire cutting and bending'press according to this invention; Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of the same, viewed from the left in Fig. 1; and Fig.

3 is a transverse sectional view of the same, taken sponding parts.

Referring to the drawings, the novel wire cutting and bending press according to this invention comprises a suitable base m upon which the mechanism is mounted. Suitably fixed on said base, preferably as an integral part thereof, are longitudinally spaced, transversely disposed, upstanding end members or plates H, which with V 2 I said base and bridge bars to be hereinafter described provide the framework of the press.

Journaled in and between said end members or plates II, by its journalingend portions i2, is a centrally disposed rock-shaft l3, the same being preferably of a polygonal cross-sectional shape, such e. g. as the square shape shown. Afilxed to an end of said rock-shaft is a hand lever 14 forv manipulating the same. Said rock-sha t may be rocked in opposite directions from a no al initial position by means of the hand lever, and detent means is provided for yieldably holding the hand lever and rock-shaft in said normal initial position. Said detent means comprises a housing block lli secured upon said base i0 beneath the hand lever, said housing block having a chamber i6 provided at its upper end with an opening ll of reduced diameter. Arranged within said chamber I6 is a detent member i8 which is provided with an upstanding detent pin i9. Said detent pin projects exteriorly through said opening i1 toward the adjacent lower end of said hand lever, whereby to engage in an inverted V-shaped notch 20 formed in said hand lever end. Said detent member and its detent pin are yieldably projected toward the hand lever by a compression spring 2| contained within the chamber it. It will be obvious that the interengaged detent pin i9 and hand lever notch 20 cooperate to hold said hand lever and rock-shaft in a neutral or normal initial position, from which they may be moved in either direction, and to which they will be returned after such movement.

Mountedon the rock-shaft it are a pair of outer wire carriers 22, each capable of being adiustably shifted upon and along said rock-shaft,

- and being provided with means to clamp the same to the latter in a selected adjusted position thereon. Each said wire carrier 22 comprises a main body having an arcuately curved top end 23, and a bifurcated lower end portion adapted to provide clamp-arms 24 having at their opposed inner sides gripper indentations 25 conforming to the cross-sectional contours of the rock-shaft so as to receive and straddle the latter; said clamparms 2% being provided with a clamp screw 2%, whereby to releasably tighten the wire carrier 22 on the rock-shaft in a selected adjusted position thereon. I

In like manner, also mounted on the rock-shaft i3 are a pair ofinner wire carriers 27 having arcuately curved top'ends 28. The lower portions of said wire carriers 2! are similarly constructed to embrace the rock-shaft for adjustable move- 3 meat thereon, and subject to be releasably tightened thereon in selected adjusted positions.

When said rock-shaft I3 is disposed in neutral or normal initial position, said wire carriers 22 and 21 extend perpendicularly upward therefrom in corresponding neutral or normal initial positions, as shown in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive.

Said outer wire carriers 22 each have a force pin 29 upstanding from the arcuate top end 23 thereof; and, in like manner, said inner wire carriers 21 each have a force pin 30 upstanding from the arcuate top end 23 thereof. The force pins 29 of the outer wire carriers 22 are so disposed relative to the position of the force pins 30 of the inner wire carriers 21, when said carriers occupy neutral-or normal initial positions. that wire W to be bent, when deposited upon and across the wire carriers, will lie between the force pins 23, which abut one side of the wire, and the force pins 30, which abut the opposite side of the wire, whereby the wire is inescapably held and supported in proper position to be worked upon (see Figs. 1 and 3).

Aflixed to and between the end members or plates ll, so as to be upwardly and outwardly 01!- set from one side of the rock-shaft i3, is a longitudinally extending bridge bar 3|, which is preferably laterally uptilted toward the arcuate top ends of the wire carriers. Said bridge bar II is provided along its top face with a longitudinally extending key boss 32. Formed in said bridge bar and its key boss is a longitudinal slot or slots 33.

Mounted on said bridge bar 3| are a pair of outer anvil members 34, each capable of being adjustably shifted upon and along said bridge bar, to respectively dispose the same in opposed cooperative relation to the outer wire carriers 22, according to the position to which the latter are adjustably moved on the rock-shaft l3. Each anvil member 34 comprises an elongated platelike body portion of substantial thickness having in its underside, adjacent to its rear end, a transverse seating channel 35 which is adapted to fit and slidingly embrace the key boss 32 of the bridge bar 3|, whereby to retain the anvil member 34 against rotative shifting displacement from its operative projecting disposition relative to the supporting bridge bar 3|. Extending through the rear end portion of the anvil member 34 and thence through a slot of the bridge bar 3| is a nut and bolt fastener 33, which, when tightened, serves to secure the anvil member in selected adjusted position on said supporting bridge bar 3|. At its -forward end, said anvil member 34 is formed to provide a forwardly projecting bending tongue 3! of reduced width and a stop shoulder 33 which is angular to a side of said bending tongue 31 and rearwardiy offset a substantial distance from the operative extremity or anvil face 33 of said bending tongue.

Ailixed to and between the end members or plates I so as to be upwardly and outwardly oil'- set from the opposite side of the rock-shaft i3, is a similar longitudinally extending bridge bar 43, which is likewise laterally uptilted toward the arcuate top ends of the wire carriers. Said bridge bar 43 is also provided along its top face with a longitudinally extending key boss 4|, and formed in said bridge bar 43 and its key boss 4| is a longitudinal slot 42.

Mounted on the bridge bar 40 are a pair of inner anvil members 43, each capable of being adjustably shifted upon and along said bridge bar, to respectively dispose the same in opposed cooperative relation to the inner wire carriers 21, according to the position to which the latter are adjustably moved on the rock-shaft I3. Each said anvil member 43 likewise comprises an elongated plate-like body portion of substantial thickness having in its underside, adjacent to its rear end, a transverse seating channel 44 which is adapted to fit and slidingly embrace the key boss 4| of the bridge bar 43, whereby to retain the anvil member 43 against rotative shifting displacement from its operative projecting disposition relative to the supporting bridge bar 40. Extending through the rear end portion of the anvil member 43 and thence through the slot 42 of the bridge bar 40 is a nut and bolt fastener 4|, which, when tightened, serves to secure the anvil member in selected adjusted position on said supporting bridge bar 40. At its forward end, said anvil member 43 is formed to provide a forwardly projecting bending tongue 43 of reduced width and a stop shoulder 41 which is angular to a side of said bending tongue 46 and rearwardly offset a substantial distance from the operative extremity or anvil face 48 of said bending tongue.

Owing to the laterally uptilted disposition of said bridge bars 3| and 40, the anvil members 34 and 43 respectively mounted thereon are disposed to incline upwardly therefrom, whereby to dispose their operative free ends in overlapping relation to the arcuate top ends of the wire carriers to which they are respectively operatively opposed and related. Said anvil members are adjustably disposed relative to the wire carriers with which they are to cooperate so that the bending tongues will be laterally offset relative to the path of movement of the force pins of said wire carriers for a distance equal to or slightly in excess of the thickness of wire W to be operated upon, and so that said force pins will be opposed to the stop shoulders of said anvil members.

Each wire cutting means of the press, of which there are two respectively spaced outwardly of the outer wire carriers and cooperating outer anvil members, comprises a movable cutter device mounted on the rockshaft l3 and a cooperating stationary cutter device mounted on the bridge bar 3|. Each movable cutter device comprises a blade carrier 43 having a bifurcated lower end similar in construction to that of the wire carriers above described, whereby to embrace the rockshaft for adjustable movement thereon, and subject to be releaseably tightened thereon in selected adjusted position. Suitably aillxed to the blade carrier 49, to project from its upper free end, is a shear blade 50. Each stationary cutter device comprises an elongated plate-like body 5| provided in its underside, adjacent to its rear end, with a transverse seating channel 32 which is adapted to fit and slidingly embrace the key boss 32 of the bridge bar 3|, whereby to retain said body 5| against rotati-ve shifting displacement from its operative projecting position relative to said supporting bridge bar 3|. Extending through the rear end of said body 5| and thence through a slot 33 of the bridge bar 3| is a nut and bolt fastener 53, which, when tightened, serves to secure the body 5| in selected adjusted position on the supporting bridge bar 3|. At its forward end, said body 5| is provided with a projecting cutter blade 54 disposed to cooperate with the shear blade 50 of the associated movable cutter device. Also projecting from the forward end of said body ii, and laterally offset relative to said cutter blade 54, is a wire rest extension 55, which is downwardly bent to oifset its wire supporting surface relative tothe cutting edge of the cutter blade 54, so as not to obstruct operative engagement of the wireW with the latter;

In the use of the press, the hand'lever, rockshaft and carrier elements mounted on the latter, being disposed in the described neutral or normal initial position, as shown e. g. in Fig; 1, the wire W to be operated upon is laid across the wire carriers 22 and 21 so as to be held betweenthe force pins 29 and 80 thereof. In the exampleshown, the wire W comprises leads oppositely extending fromthe ends of an electrical resistor R, which leads are desired to be cut to predetermined length, and then bent to provide right'angular bends adapted to parallelly offset the resistor body R relative to the end portions of said leads. To this end the resistor R is disposed between the inner wire carriers 21. When the work is disposed as described, the respective end portions of the wire W will extend between the movable and stationary cutting elements of the respective cutting device sets. It will be obvious that the spacing of the bands relative to the ends of the resistor R. may be predetermined by adjusting the spaced relation of the sets of inner wire carriers 21 and cooperating anvil members I; the

oifsetting distance of the bends may be predewhereby the wire carriers are swung in like 7 direction, so as to bring into operation, first the wire cutting devices and then the outer wire carriers 22 and cooperating anvil members 3. During such operation, the wire W is carried with the shear blades 50 into engagement-with the stationary cutter blades 54, whereby upon continued movement of said shear blades the extremities of the wire W are cut away to produce the desired initial length of wire (see Fig. 4). This occurs just before the wire W is brought into abutment against the anvil faces 39 of the bending tongues 31 of the anvil members 3t, whereafter continued movement of the wire carriers 22 toward the anvil members 34 causes the force pins 29 to move the wire toward the stop shoulders 38, thus forcing the bending tongues 31 to bend the free end portions of the wire around the force pins 29 as fulcrums, and thereby producing the outer bends of the ofisetting bends sought to be formed, said outer bends being completed when the wire and force pins' 29 are arrested by the stop shoulders 38 (see Fig. 5). To complete the offsetting bends, the hand lever id is outwardly swung to rock the rock-shaft is in opposite or anti-clockwise direction, whereby to bring into operation the inner wire carriers 21 and cooperating anvil members 53. By the latter operatiomthe wire carriers 21 are moved toward the anvil members as, thus causing the force pins 30 to move the wire toward the stop shoulders ll and thereby against the anvil faces 48, whereafter continued forcing of the wire by said force pins Bil compels the bending tongues 46 to bend the wire around the force pins 30 as fulcrums', thereby producing the inner bends of the offsetting bends. said inner bends being completed when the wire and force pins 30, are arrested by the stop shoulders 41 (see Fig.6).

It will be understood that other forms and variations f wire bends may be produced, and bends other than right angular may be producedby suitably. shaping the bending tongues of the anvil members. It will also be obvious that single bends may be produced by eliminat ing the operation of selected anvil members, this being done by removing undesired anvil members from the supporting bridge bars.

From the above it will be appreciated that a very simple, easily and quickly operated wire cutting and bending press is provided by this invention.

It is realized that various changes could be made in the above-described constructions without-departing from the scope of this invention as defined by the following claims. It is therefore intended that all matter contained in the" foregoing description or shown in the-accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A press for the purposes described comprising a framework. a longitudinal rock-shaft centrally iournaled in said framework, means to actuate said rock-shaft, wire carriers on said rock-shaft, means to yieldably hold said rockshaft and its actuating means in a normal initial position adapted to dispose said wire carriers in normal initial upstanding positions, said wire carriers having force pins upstanding from their free ends to engage and hold wire to be operated upon, anvil members supported by said framework to project from one side thereof in opposition to certain of said wire carriers, other anvil members supported by said framework to projectfrom the opposite side thereof in opposition to other of said wire carriers, said wire carriers being adapted to be moved by actuation of said rock-shaft, whereby to engage thewire between said force pins and anvil members to produce desired wire bending effects.

2. A press for the purposes described as defined in claim 1 including movable wire cutter means upstanding i'rom said rock-shaft, stationary wire cutter means supported by said framework to' project from one side thereof in opposition to said movable cutter means, and said movable cutter means being adapted to be moved into wire cutting relation to said stationary cutter means by actuation of said rockshaft.

3. A press for the purposes described as defined in-ciaim 1 wherein each anvil member is provided at its operative end with a bending tongue laterally onset relative to the path of movement of the force pin of, a wire carrier cooperative therewith and with a stop shoulder angular to a side of said bending tongue and rearwardly spaced from the extremity of the latter to lie in the path of movement of said force pin toward the anvil member.

4. A wire forming press comprising a framework, a rock-shaft journalled in the framework, wire carriers mounted upon the rock-shaft and extending upwardly therefrom, force pins mounted on the upper ends of the wire carriers to maintain a wire to be formed against displacement on their respective carriers, anvils supported by the framework at given positions relative to their respective wire carriers, a movmovable cutting element, and means to actuate .the rock-shaft to move the carriers, their force pins. the wire and the movable cutting element tocauee the cutting elements to cut the wire at a 'iven position and to subsequently cause the pins to force the wire relative to the anvils to term predetermined bends therein.

5. A wire forming press comprising a'framework, a rock-shaft Journalled in the framework,

'wire carriers mounted upon the rock-shaft and extending upwardly therefrom,

force pins mounted on the upper ends of the wire carriers to maintain a wire to be formed against displacement on their respective carriers, anvils supported at opposing sides of the framework at given, positions relative to theirrespective carriers, and means tp move the rock-shaft first in .one direction to cause one of the pins to force the wire relative to its anvil to form a prede- 8 termined bend in the wire, and to subsequently move the rock-shaft in the opposite direction to cause the other pin to force the wire relative to its anvil to form another bend in the wire. JOHN A. SHAND.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 0 file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 4 388,816 Beyer May 2, 1905 865,001 Thompson Sept. 3, 1907 15 970,059 Kamenstein Sept. 13, 1910 970,269 Shepard Sept. 13, 1910 1,341,964 Yennett et al. June 1, 1920 4,343,267 I Kenny June 15, 1920 1,354,770 Little Oct. 5, 1920 20 1,633,416 Peraira et al June 21, 1927 2,393,397 Mullarkey Jan. 22, 1946 

